Inconsistent Consistencies
by Gala Secrets
Summary: Chronologically the first in this series. By Mafia standards for Flame Active individuals, Skull was weird because he did not actually exhibit any blatant weirdness. Of course, that depended on who you asked, but the only people who knew his weirdness were not mafia and therefore, no one asked them.


So this is the 'Inconsistent Consistencies' that I've mentioned. It was supposed to be the first one published but I had to rework some parts as I started working on other installments in the series.

Like 'Memento Mori', it does cover part of the timeline and touches on a little bit of his life before Checkerface invites him to be part of the Strongest Seven.

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For anyone who had ever known the man that became the Cloud Arcobaleno, it was a given that they would consider him to be a bit on the odd side. It wasn't his hair or eyes that caused the reaction either, given his profession. In fact, it was the fact that he didn't come off as weird or show any weird habits that made him weird. Flame Active individuals were expected to be weird in some for or fashion, to the point that being weird was actually the norm to them. Unlike other Flame Actives, Skull did not have any immediately noticeable weirdness, which ultimately put him into the weird category.

Of course, if anyone in the mafia had thought to ask about the perform known as "The Immortal Skull" among stuntmen and the circuses, they would be told that he was actually weird. Before any kind of performance and after the crowd was seated, Skull would walk around behind the seating mumbling "I am Skull" twice before making his debut. Plus, he never signed his name on anything. For fans, he would doodle a skull on whatever they wanted him to sign and as far as any paperwork went, well, that depended on the circus. Some thought he couldn't write, others thought he was completely illiterate, still others were told he had an accident that messed with his head when it came to writing. So that paperwork was usually done by a proxy. Eventually, he would leave each circus or stunt crew after a few years but always on good terms then join another one with a different performance path.

(Years later, anything with that skull doodle would become collectors' items when he disappeared from the circus due to the Arcobaleno Curse.)

However, in the Mafia's eyes he was a civilian and therefore never asked. They had to find out on their own that yes, the Cloud Arcobaleno was in fact, weird. Just not in the way they expected him to be.

Skull was the last to be introduced to the other members of the Strongest Seven and Luce had warned them that he was a civilian stuntman. Nothing more, nothing less. Partly because she couldn't See him clearly like she could the others. They accepted it but did not necessarily like it. Business etiquette kept any of them from showing this when the purple haired man entered the room.

It only took a second but they all recognized the way he assessed the room and noted the exits. Odd for a civilian but perhaps he was simply paranoid. He was loud as announced his arrival with flair but left it to Luce to actually introduce him since he didn't give his own name. Again, odd and inconsistent with how civilians normally reacted.

While he was paranoid, he never actually checked for poisons and actually ate a meal that was laced, several times, when engaging a target. He showed no reaction whatsoever whenever it happened, and it gave the others a heart attack every time. In the back of his mind, Reborn wondered if he was doing it on purpose.

His Italian was also odd in the fact that it was an older, more traditional style that the Cloud used as opposed to modern Italian. Not to mention that he had an American accent except when he spoke Italian, and he spoke it like a native speaker from central Italy to boot. Plus he had the manners to match and that wasn't something common at all in the circus or in the stunt circuits. No matter which way the Arcobaleno looked at it, those two things did not add up with what they knew of the man.

They also noted that Skull would ask a person for their name again, if they were first introduced by somebody else. MOdd yes, but not weird enough to be considered normal for the mafia. His wearing black one week a year didn't count either. The not signing anything was close though, as quite a few mafia people had that quirk. Suprisingly enough, it took them quite a while to realize that if he ever did have guests or if he met with someone, Skull was never addressed by any name.

Alas, none of the Arcobaleno put all the pieces together or they would have agreed that yes, Skull did fit in with the mafia normal.

(On a personal note, Verde thought it was just plain weird that Skull would only hum classical pieces. No one else noticed though. After finally being introduced to Skull's Sky many years later, said Sky would commiserate with Verde.)


End file.
